Latest market data

Stock search

There can be little doubt that we live in a renaissance age of
technology, particularly technology that makes work more
efficient and connected. But we’re also starting to see signs
that we have rushed so much technology into the
workplace that workers can’t keep up.

This “digital skills gap” –employees not knowing the right
technology tool to use for the job or how to properly use
technology tools at their disposal – is costing the U.S. economy
roughly $1 trillion a year in lost productivity. And this digital
skills gap loss could easily grow as the pace of change in
workplace technology continues rapidly.

Few have explored this gap in detail but to solve for it, we need
to understand it. To quantify what and how it’s costing U.S.
businesses, we commissioned a Harris poll to survey workers
across the country about the technology they use at work and how
proficient they are with these tools. While we see the
effects of this digital skills gap on our clients’ businesses
every day, the results of the survey should shock every company
into action.

Particularly, almost one in three U.S. workers say they simply
are not proficient in using the technology tools they need at
work. What’s more, only one in 10 American workers say they have
mastered these tools.

More than one in five workers (21 percent) in our Dropbox
age say they still prefer sharing large files on a flash drive or
CD. Only 13 percent say they prefer cloud-based storage like
Dropbox. What’s more, nearly one in three workers who use these
tools don’t feel they are proficient in their skill (29 percent).

Fear of new technology isn’t limited to file sharing. Across
every category of technology we explored, we found most workers
consider themselves unable to master the tools:

Among workers we spoke to who use customer relationship
management tools like Salesforce, two in five (40 percent) say
they are not proficient with this technology. At most, they say
they can do a little but are not comfortable, and they would like
instruction to accomplish even basic tasks.

The numbers are only slightly better for proficiency with even
simple tools like Hootsuite, a social media management tool. Over
a third of workers who use these services at work say they still
are not proficient at using them properly (35 percent). Only 11
percent of the workers using these tools at work consider
themselves an expert.

The recession drove an explosion in the use of online meeting
tools as companies cut back on travel expenses but, even in this
area, workers still consider themselves ill-equipped to use the
technology. Only 13 percent of workers who use these online
meeting tools consider themselves experts, while 31 percent
describe themselves as not proficient.

Some may suspect it is primarily older workers who struggle to
master new technology but we found even younger workers can’t
keep up with the pace of technology change. In fact, only 14
percent of those between 18 and 34 years old consider themselves
experts when averaged across the technology tools in all
categories. Workers between 55 and 64 years old were only
slightly less expert at using these tools overall, at 9 percent.

The digital skills gap is so costly because it is a wide
chasm.

Three times as many workers consider themselves not proficient
compared to those who consider themselves experts. According to
IDC, about 20 percent productivity loss occurs across the
workforce due to factors including digital inefficiency. Our
workforce is made up of nearly 160 million people, with about 84
percent – or 125 million people – working in information sectors
with technology of some sort. This means that if the average
annual wage of an American worker is around $50,000 and 20 of
productivity is lost, businesses lose $10,000 in productivity for
each worker. In total, it’s a $1.3 trillion hit to U.S.
businesses.

On the plus side, workers of all ages who improve their
technology proficiency will be increasingly valued. Our advice to
the individual is take the initiative to learn technical skills.
Don't wait for help from technical support at the office.

For businesses, the obvious answer is to invest about as
much teaching workers how to use technology as they spend in
acquiring this new technology. Recognize the need to invest
time in transitioning to new services. Operations and HR teams
should work with each department to make sure team leads
understand the new product functionality and feel comfortable
transitioning from old tools to new.

When onboarding a new tool, create easy-to-follow “cheat sheets”
for daily functionality as it’s applicable to your specific
business. Distribute it to employees along with the log-in
details, so they have the resources off the bat. Guiding them
through the basics of the service will allow for quick adoption
upfront.

Take advantage of services provided by paid-subscriptions. Many
cloud services assign account representatives to help with the
onboarding of new tools. Take advantage of these resources. Have
the representative conduct introductions to the product by
webinar or in-person, or host office hours at your workplace
while teams get up to speed.

Support the initial onboarding with regular trainings.
Technologies update quickly, and ongoing trainings that cover new
features or go more in-depth on specific aspects of the tools
will ensure employees remain current and get ahead of the curve.
Instead of traditional “lecture hall” style trainings, use
on-demand content and an on-the-go platform that HR teams can
customize and that employees can access when most convenient for
them. It will feel less like just another meeting.